Suddenly, Ross opened his eyes to a new environment the moment he crossed the one-hundred steps mark.
Around him was a dark space that had dark clouds rumbling from the loud crackles of lightning that rained down continuously from them.
The ground was a rough land of grey stones and soil. It was eerie and reminiscent of a place of death. Fog littered the ground and created a spooky feel, adding to the dead-like environment.
Ross looked up at the crackling lightning that was as wide as a person's arm. Each strike of lightning charred the grey earth and turned it black from the strike.
Ross swallowed nervously as he was not sure what to do as the spot he stood in with a diameter of 50 meters was the only place lightning did not strike.
'This is definitely going to be about those big ass lightning.'
The gloom on his face was clear as he contemplated what lay ahead. His eyes darted around, absorbing everything, when a loud voice echoed throughout the space.
And even with the crackle of lightning and thunder, Ross could hear it loud and clear.
[Participant Ross. You stand in the realm of death. Your trial is simple. Ahead of you lies the monolith. Reach it, and you may leave this forsaken place. But be warned—the shadows you see are not mere spectres. They hunger, and they remember.]
Ross looked forward but did not see any monolith or specters. However, he didn't have to wonder for long as the earth trembled and a monolith about 20 meters in width in all directions rose from the ground to the sky where it disappeared.
It was black, made of some kind of stone Ross did not recognize, and with what appeared to be runes on them. Ross could not read what was on them as they were too far from him, and while he had no knowledge of runes, he felt that those runes had to mean something.
Then the specters followed as they crawled out of the ground from the immediate surroundings of the monolith. They appeared grey with skeletal features wearing torn robes that were basically rags as they floated around the monolith like a circling cloud.
They numbered in the hundreds and screeched so loudly it grated his ears, and they made no attempt to approach the area where Ross stood.
'Fucking hell… Those things are dangerous!'
His eyes trembled just looking at their forms and a cold shiver ran down his spine.
'If this is just the first trial, then I'm in trouble.'
He didn't have to be told the obvious, as their very presence was eerily oppressive. What was more, the lightning appeared to have no effect on them.
Then the voice came again.
[Succeed and you shall be rewarded.]
No further instructions came after Ross waited for a whole minute.
"I guess this is all I have to work with."
He swallowed nervously as he began to sweat despite the chilling environment. From the voice's words, the trail seemed simple, but he knew it was anything but.
Forget about the specters, the lightning would be enough to put him out and his flames would have no effects on the lighting storm. They seemed as natural as any lightning storm could be, only much wider and more powerful.
Since there was no time limit given, he was in no rush to attempt running through the lightning storm and then facing the specters.
He sat down and put his sword beside him.
'There should be some kind of pattern to the lightning strike. There's no way a trial like this would have no room for surviving.'
For the next half an hour, he stared straight ahead and studied how the lightning storm struck the ground, memorizing their patterns. Soon he fell into a trance-like state as his whole focus watched the lighting arcs.
He began to see a path through which he could traverse at specific times relative to the other arcs. It took a lot of his mental acuity, but he found it.
Now the problem was the hundreds of floating specters screeching from time to time. He could even see some of them look his way and then continue their journey around the large monolith.
"Huu…"
Ross exhaled loudly and got back to his feet, his weapon returning to his right hand. He slowly approached the lightning tendrils that created a circumference around his resting area.
With a nervous expression, he extended his left hand to test the waters. Knowing what to expect before he encountered them should give him a clue as to how dangerous the tendrils were.
With each inch his hand covered, his heart race increased along. His eyes looked ahead to see if the specters would react the moment a small part of himself crossed the safe barrier.
But the specters appeared to just continue what they were doing.
He took another deep breath with a racing heart and slightly stretched his index finger in. And the moment the finger appeared, a powerful tendril of lightning struck that finger, charring the piece of armour covering it.
"Ouch!"
He instantly redrew his hand as the pain from the strike washed over his body like a raging storm. Even though the trike was just on his index finger, the pain was so severe that he almost took a knee.
With gritted teeth and red eyes that threatened to break into tears, Ross shook that hand to dispel the stinging sensation to no avail.
It was only a few minutes later that the sensation began to die down.
"What the hell?! How am I supposed to pass this trial and this is only the first one?!"
His bellow rang through the space and his eyes darted around trying to find anything that represented the entity that spoke earlier.
Yet, no response came. Ross was all alone.
After regaining his composure, Ross turned to the spot he studied and took a moment to recall all the patterns he spotted.
Then an opening came and Ross dashed into the lightning storm with no hesitation. It did not mean he was fearless, in fact, it was the complete opposite. He knew this was the only way out of his predicament, and was either he moved forward or just accepted his fate.
But the renewed vow he made to himself still rang strongly within him. The path to ultimate power was never an easy one.
He knew that, and he accepted it.